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gas safe plumbers: greedy and unethical?

IMHO because that's what the labour charge is for.

Reply to
Fred
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Hi,

OP here. One plumber has already said this: he can fit his own PCB and be liable if it subsequently fails or if he fits my PCB, I would be charged for further work. This seems perfectly fair to me. I think it is a question of doing the sums. If a reconditioned board is £50 and a new one is £120, it makes sense to gamble £30 labour for a future call-back.

Reply to
Fred

Do you think your local garage charge you cost price for parts & consumables?

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

OP here again: I was not suggesting that I buy the parts for the plumbers to fit. I am happy for them to get the parts so that they would be sure of their provenance. I was simply asking that they bought a reconditioned board rather than a new one to save me some money.

I'm sure a recond board is tested and guaranteed and subject to the same laws (fit for purpose, etc) as a brand new one. So their reason for not wanting to buy one does not add up.

Reply to
Fred

No relationship with the manufacturer unless they bought from them directly. Their claim will usually be limited to the cost of the part from whoever they bought it from.

The common exception to this seems to be boilers, where the manufacturers offer warranty cover directly. The retailers like this since it lets them off the hook, and the boiler makers like it since it inserts them in the service and repair value chain.

Reply to
John Rumm

But that's not what is happening here, where the customer knows what to buy and where to buy it from.

The wholesaler can only earn profit on the sale. You can earn profit on your labour. You can set your hourly rate to whatever you like, as can these plumbers. No-one is denying you chance to earn a profit.

Except that in this example TS will deliver so no-one is inconvenienced.

Reply to
Fred

That's what I think.

Reply to
Fred

So you expect them to lose money on everything they sell, and hope to make it up on the labour?

Remember that if they buy something trade at £10 it does not cost them £10, it costs more. There is the time selecting, and buying it, the loss of income on the capital tied up in holding stock. The cumulative cost of offering warranty cover on the parts that fail. The insurance to protect the investment while you hold it, the transaction cost of accounting for the purchase and subsequent sale. The cost of the space required to store it prior to sale...

(and that is not an exhaustive list)

Reply to
John Rumm

add time & fuel going to get the part.

Reply to
charles

Mine is only ten years old and when I posted about it in another thread, the advice here was that the boiler should last for many more years yet.

A couple of posters have said that. I wasn't expecting to supply the parts for them, just request that they buy a recond. board for half the cost of a new one.

I asked the plumbers if they could visit and confirm the faults before buying any parts (and I would be happy to pay for their time to do so), so this does not apply.

Unless you could not afford a new one at that time. In which case you would make repairs to keep it going until such time as you could afford to replace it.

But I have asked them to confirm it

because they were greedy

I have asked them to use one recond. part

They have been asked to confirm this.

Reply to
Fred

But that's my point, recond. parts will be tested and guaranteed and as good as new. Why is everyone so afraid of them?

Reply to
Fred

We will have to agree to disagree on that. If someone wanted to charge £60 for a £50 to cover time and fuel then may be, but to charge £120 (the cost of a new one) for a £50 part is unethical. If you want the £70 add it to your labour charges so the client can see how much you really cost.

Reply to
Fred

SOGA doesn't apply to tradesmen buying at trade prices. Some will argue that it doesn't apply to the public at trade price either.

Reply to
dennis

Hi,

Just as I have made stereotypes about plumbers, I think the same has happened about landlords. We are not all millionaires with several properties. I simply let out the house I used to live in and that is all. The boiler is what was there when I moved in. I agree that if I could design from scratch, the cylinder would be a better proposal.

Reply to
Fred

earning? or being paid?

JGH

Reply to
jgharston

I had a free (labour) first service on a new car. The mark-up on the consumables more than made up for the free labour.

Reply to
Alan

In general and not just in the plumbing trade...

Because a few people claiming to sell reconditioned parts just take old parts from scrap items, clean them up and accept that a high proportion of them will come back. They will, of course, replace them with another one if you take them back...

If your time costs nothing and you have no reputation to protect, then this can be a reasonable deal. If your time is normally chargeable, and you have a reputation to protect, then it's a loser, so why take the chance of having to do the job again for free and have to suffer the negative publicity on the word of mouth network?

Reply to
John Williamson

The garage I use will use your parts as long as they are genuine manufacturers parts. They are guaranteed the same as if they supplied them.

Reply to
dennis

I didn't read Fred's original post in that way. I thought he meant there should be a bit more straightforwardness about parts and labour.

What he experienced is like the effectively obligatory tipping of restaurant staff in the US because the prices charged for the food aren't enough to provide the servers with a living wage, or the =A330 Ryanair flights that cost =A3230 with obligatory taxes/charges. Isn't this the sort of nonsense the chap taking over banking regulation is talking about stopping by ending "free" banking?

If there were more honesty on both sides, there'd likely be less distrust, misunderstandings and recriminations.

Reply to
mike

Yes, I know. Mr or Mrs Average get a vague diagnosis and a huge estimate of= the repair costs ( usually swapping the ECU, because they can't) diagnose the fault) at =A3 ludicrous/hr, and they scrap the car and buy a = newer replacement.

Much the same as for boilers. I don't say it's not repairable, just that = the repair involves someone spending a lot of their time at less than the =A3100+/hr trade labour going= rate. =20

Reply to
Onetap

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